Summer Fever
by littleAliengrl
Summary: It's summer vacation and Ichigo has invited Rukia to spend it with him and his family. It turns out that Ichigo was asked out by a certain someone. Rukia tell him to go for it which really displeases Ichigo. Summer will change the both of them. Oneshot.


A/N: This is a one-shot based off an idea from my partner in crime who deserves credit for her awesome help. Thanks for making this one-shot possible! Saro you rock! XD

Idea: BleedingSaro'

Co-writer: BleedingSaro

Summer Fever

"Now class, settle down. Your only homework over the weekend is pages 236 through 242 in your history text book."

The bell rang, and the teacher stood. "Have a good weekend, everyone, and come back safely!"

That said, she grabbed her purse and left the classroom, the class piling out behind her. The only one who didn't seem to be in any hurry was a short, dark-haired girl, who was taking her time cramming her books into her suitcase-like book bag. The noise of the students in the hallway quickly died down, and when the last of the voices drifted away, she stood. Looking back at her desk, she headed towards the door, only to find that someone was standing there.

"Ichigo?"

He never waited for her. Usually, he would just head home, and she'd follow a few minutes later. So the fact that he was standing there, one hand in his pocket and the other one holding his bag over his shoulder, while everyone else was on their way home confused her.

"What are you-?"

"I need to talk to you."

She gulped, not liking the serious (well, more serious than usual) tone in his voice. Silently, she nodded, and followed along behind him into the hallway. "Well, what is it?" she asked, as they emerged onto the nearly-empty street.

"Well," he said, looking up towards the sky. "Every year, in the middle of August, our family takes a week-long vacation. We rent a house on the beach, and stay there from one Sunday until the next… It's like a family tradition, that we've continued for as long as I can remember."

She nodded, urging him to go on, not seeing in the least bit where this was going. Sighing, he stopped and turned to face her.

"I- I mean _we, _were wondering if you would like to come with us."

Rukia stopped as well, staring up at him for a minute before shaking her head. "Ichigo, I couldn't possibly, it's your family—"

He cut her off, sighing. "The girls want you to come. So does pop. And I do, too. Because it would make the girls happy!" he quickly added, when she turned back to him curiously. There was a long silence, in which Rukia thought about what he had just told her.

Finally, she spoke up. "But, what about Soul So-"

One again, he cut her off. "Come on, Rukia! Don't worry about Soul Society. Just this once, forget about the consequences. I mean, it's not like you haven't been here for a few months already." When he finished, she looked away again. "Come on, _please?"_

At this, she looked back up at him, and exhaled. "Well, I suppose I _could… _But Soul Society _will _have to know. They'll have to get someone on patrol while we're gone."

He let out a groan of frustration and began walking again. She smiled half-heartedly to herself as she jogged to catch up. "Thanks a lot, Ichigo."

He cast her a sideways glance. "Sure," he grunted.

Rukia glanced at Ichigo's retreating form once more before taking out her spirit phone.

"Oi. Renji? Yes, it's good to hear from you as well. Listen, I'm going to go on vacation with Ichigo's family for a week, do you think you can handle things in Karakura while I'm gone? ...Arigato, Renji. I'll see you when I get back."

Rukia snapped her phone shut and slipped it into her pocket. She saw that Ichigo was walking further up ahead. All she could see now was that orange blob in the distance.

"Oi! Chotto matte, Ichigo!"

As she neared him, Ichigo glanced over his shoulder with that sun-kissed smile of his that he especially reserved only for Rukia. For a second, she was taken aback before smiling herself.

"I've never been to a beach before."

"It's alright. I don't usually go swimming though."

"Why not? Part cat?" Rukia smirked.

"Funny." He rolled his eyes at her. "Nah, I just don't like it as much as I used to. You could go in with my sisters. By the way, if you insist on wearing a bathing suit, make it a one piece. My dad goes insane at the beach. You've been warned."

"O...kay? What else do you do at the beach?"

"Hmm...let's see...well there's this guy there that lets you ride his horses for a cheap price. There's bond fires and fireworks. Walks on the beach. That's usually my favorite past time. Just to get away from everything and everyone."

"You shouldn't be so anti-social, Ichigo. I bet everyone would wish you'd spend more time with them. Like Inoue or even Asano."

"I prefer to keep to myself most of the time since people are threatened by me. I'm surprised either of them had the guts to approach me."

Rukia giggled. "I remember Inoue telling me once that she thought you had a funny face."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow at this. "Nani?"

"She thinks that your scowls are funny and that you should smile more."

"Inoue," he chuckled. "I feel bad..."

"Doshite?"

"She asked me out before the bell rang but I had to turn her down."

"Don't you like her?" She felt her insides turn to acid at hearing this, though she tried not to show the jealousy behind her words.

"It's not that. It's just that this isn't a good time for me to start thinking about that."

"You're fifteen. Live a little," she encouraged.

Although, she was a bit disappointed, she did want Ichigo to be happy.

"You're starting to sound like Keigo."

"So? He may be right."

Ichigo sighed heavily. "If I were to allow myself to get into that, I might end up hurting her. All my enemies would think of Inoue as my weak spot and go after her. I can't risk that."

"Don't be so foolishly noble. Nothing will happen to her or any of our friends. Not as long as we're together."

At this, Rukia slipped her hand into Ichigo's calloused one. For a moment, neither moved or uttered a sound. Quickly realizing what she had just said, Rukia moved her hand to rest by her side.

"G-gomen...I-I meant the entire group."

"Yeah...I know what you meant."

He began walked ahead of her once more, his hands stuffed in his pockets. Rukia bit her lip.

_'Did I make him angry?"_

Ichigo stared down at the items strewn across his mattress. Sun block, Ipod and headphones, a pillow… His chocolate orbs silently scanned over the items, 'check'- ing them off in his mind. Across the hall, he could hear Rukia talking to the girls, but he wasn't listening. His mind was elsewhere. With a sigh, he reached down and grabbed the sun block, tossing it over his shoulder and into the already-full bag. His schoolbooks were all piled up on the floor beside his desk, there wasn't enough room. He'd have to leave them.

But, at the moment, that wasn't bothering him very much. No, the only thing he could think of was his earlier conversation with Rukia, and the anger that had boiled up inside of him as they had neared the Kurosaki Residence.

Rukia had taken it the wrong way. He hadn't intended for her to push him away, telling him that he should 'live a little' and be with Orihime. Besides, wasn't it clear enough that _she _was the one…

"Ichi-nii," Karin said, appearing at the door. He opened his mouth to say something about her not knocking, but then realized that he had left the door open.

"What is it?"

She hesitated a moment, before bringing up the subject Ichigo _knew _she was going to bring up. "Is it… _ok_ for you to leave?" she asked, nervously shifting feet. He noticed that she was avoiding eye contact.

Sighing, he ran a hand through his orange hair, and looked towards the ceiling. After a short pause, he looked back down at her. "Yeah, it's fine… It's all been taken care of."

Karin nodded, but didn't turn to leave.

"What is it now?" he asked.

"Yuzu wants to know if you packed the sun block."

He nodded, and she left the room.

"Rukia-chan, you've _never _been to a beach before?" Yuzu asked in bewilderment. Rukia shook her head, stuffing a couple of things into her bulging bag. Stretching, she sat down on the foot of her bed, and Yuzu and Karin turned to look at her.

"Well, you see," she said, after a long silence. "Where I'm from," –she noticed the look in Karin's eye, but carefully continued, "We were really far away from the beach. There actually wasn't very much around our house at all."

Yuzu picked up a few items that had fallen onto the floor including her bathing suit, and then looked up at Rukia with big eyes. After a moment, she said, "I'm so glad you're coming with us Rukia-chan!"

Though she didn't know why, Rukia felt her heart do a back flip at these words. She smiled warmly, almost on the verge of tears, and choked out, "I'm so glad that I can come."

"Of course you can come. You're _family _to us, Rukia-chan."

This time, her heart did a somersault. _Family… _

You can imagine how tense the air was between Ichigo and Rukia in the tiny space of a car they were in. They each faced their respective window, politely ignoring the other. Karin stared at each seething teen in suspicion and partly in concern.

_'I just don't understand...I did the right thing.'_

Rukia leaned against her palm as she gazed out the window at the rolling scenery that passed her by.

_'That boy has no reason to get angry with me. Can't he see how much I_-'

Rukia stopped herself before she finished the entire thought and mentally smacked herself.

'_Fool! I mustn't think that way!'_

Karin glanced over at her supposed future sister-in-law as her father liked to call her.

"Ano...Rukia?"

After a second, she turned to look at Ichigo's younger sister. She wore a stoic expression on her face that no girl her age should have.

"H-hai?"

Karin leaned over to whisper in her ear. "What's going on with you and Ichi-nii?"

Rukia nearly fell forward at hearing her straight-forward question -er more like an interrogation.

Checking to see if Ichigo's attention was diverted elsewhere, Rukia saw that his chest slowly heaving and realized that he was asleep.

"I...well, you see...it's complicated."

"Try me. I'm starting middle school after summer ends so I can't know any less than you two about how the teenaged mind works."

Rukia smiled at her. "I think your brother has a crush on Orihime so I simply tried to persuade him to go out with her."

Karin's eyes widened. "Ichigo likes Orihime?? I thought it was the other way around. My bloke of a brother wouldn't know how to handle a crush if it bit him in the bum."

Rukia chuckled at this, hand covering her mouth. "Hai. Apparently so. The thing is he got really angry after I did and I can't understand why."

Karin snorted. _'The answer is pretty obvious...I don't know why you older kids turn everything into a drama.'_

"Anyway, how long of a drive is it to the beach" Rukia asked, changing the subject awkwardly.

Karin sighed"Actually, it's pretty close.But the section we're heading is about a few hours away._"_

Hearing this, Rukia felt her eyes bug out. Five hours?!! Oh, this was going to be a long, **long** day.

"Ichi-nii, Rukia, wake up!"

Rukia blinked her eyes open at the sound of Karin's voice. '_I must have fallen asleep…' _she thought, reaching up to rub sleep her eyes. Yawning, she looked over at Ichigo, who was still sleeping. "What's going on?" she asked, almost forgetting where she was.

"We're almost there," said Karin, nodding towards Rukia's window. Rukia looked too, and wasn't very much fascinated with what she saw. Trees. They moved past and disappeared in a swirl of gray and green. And then they began to clear away, and the car sped up a hill. And then the trees disappeared.

As the car rose higher on the hill (which was actually a bridge), Rukia leaned in closer to her window in silent awe. Beneath them –to their right and left- was water. Sparkling, beautiful blue water. Not that you could _see _much of this water, considering the hundreds of boats that were crowded all together. She was shocked to see so many people there; the distances between the still boats looked too narrow for even a slightly overweight person to squeeze through. Music blared up from the boats; black dots that were people were jumping into the water everywhere.

She gulped. No, she wasn't claustrophobic… but the thought of _that _many people.

"Don't worry," Ichigo, who had apparently been pretending to be asleep, suddenly said. "It won't be as crowded where we're going. That's why we went so far. We're going to a private beach."

"A… private beach?" she asked, but didn't turn to look at him.

He nodded, forgetting that she couldn't see him.

With a sigh, she thought to herself: _"And now he's ignoring me…" _

After unpacking their belongings inside the condo, Rukia climbed down the short steps leading to the sand. She stretched a bit and worked the kinks in her muscles before walking on ahead. She felt a tiny hand grab her wrist and tug her backward.

Karin gave her a serious look as she tilted in Ichigo's direction where he was sitting on a large boulder, hand over his eyes.

"Now might be a good time to make up with my brother."

"Demo-

"No excuses. Go...go!" When Rukia didn't budge an inch, Karin pushed her towards Ichigo until she was nearly nose to nose with him.

Karin took the opportunity to run off with Yuzu in search of hermit crabs in the pools. Ichigo, sensing Rukia so close to him, suddenly looked up in time to bump heads with her.

Ichigo threw his head back, clutching his offended forehead while Rukia rubbed her own.

"Itai! What the hell's your problem?!"

"Urusai! I have something important to say so listen good."

Ichigo arched an eyebrow at her in annoyance before tilting his head to the side as a sign for her to continue.

Rukia took a deep breath before stepping a bit closer to him.

"I...I- would you like to take a walk with me? I'd much rather talk in private."

Ichigo pretended to glance around before looking back at her through his sunglasses.

"We are in private. This is a _private _beach after all. "

Rukia growled lowly at him before tugging him forward and tossing his glasses aside. Anyone who looked at them might've thought they were some couple who were about to kiss but they'd be dead wrong.

"O-oi! Let go of me!"

Rukia kept tugging Ichigo along the beach until he got fed up and swiped her hand away. He stood tall over her, his trademark scowl in place. Standing tall over her, he crossed his arms over his chest as he waited for an explanation.

"Ichigo...are you mad at me?"

"Hmm...well what do you think?" he spat.

Rukia narrowed her eyes at his sarcasm, hands clenching at her sides.

"Be serious."

"Oh, I am." He stuffed his hands into his short cargo pants as he began to walk away from her.

"Chotto!" she called out to him. She grabbed him by the forearm and when he tried to shake her off, she moved in front of him.

Ichigo sighed heavily, his eyes trained in the distance over Rukia's head. "What do I gotta do get rid of you?"

"You could try talking with me. Did it ever occur to you that maybe I'm just as angry as you are?"

Ichigo's eyes widened slightly as looked down at the tiny girl in front of him.

"Mad? What for?"

She nodded solemnly before sinking to her knees and hugging them to her chest. She patted the sand next to her, signaling him to sit next to her. Reluctantly, he joined her on the sand, his forearms resting on either side of his legs.

"So talk."

She opened her mouth to say something, but couldn't find the words. Looking away, she sighed.

He rolled his eyes. "Look, if you're going to drag me over here to talk, then talk! If you've got nothing to say, then I'm leaving!" He started to get up, but she pulled him back down.

"_NO!" _she hissed. He turned to glare at her before shaking his head and staring out over the surface of the water. "Look, I…" she sighed. "First of all, can I ask why _you're _mad?"

He seemed to consider it for a moment. "No. You brought up this conversation, and I'm not going to let you pin it down on me. You said that _you _were angry, and I asked why first. So talk."

At this, she leaned forward, kneading her forehead with her knuckles. When she looked up, she kept her eyes trained on the sand on the opposite side of her. "I was only mad… because you were mad at me," she lied. "And I didn't –don't know why."

For a moment, it seemed like he had seen right through it, but then he looked up towards the sky and said, "Oh really?"

She nodded, but remained silent.

"You know, for some reason, I doubt that's why you're mad," he stated casually, determined to keep the conversation siding towards her as long as he could.

"...Why do you say that?"

After a short pause, he replied, "Because I know you better than that. You're lying."

_Does he know why I'm mad?! No, there's no way. _"I'm not," she persisted. "You're wrong."

He shrugged. "Whatever." And then he stood up once more.

This time, she waited for a moment. She didn't get up, but she turned towards the ocean. "Wait…"

Ichigo glanced down at her small form in the sand, watching her expectantly. Rukia bit her lip, a look of anguish filling her usually strict features.

"Well...?"

"Ichigo...I...need your here- with me." She turned her head so that she was now looking directly into his chocolate nugget eyes.

He wasn't sure how to respond to this, having never seen her in such a weakened state. The Rukia he knew would never succumb to such words. Ichigo had to wonder what had brought this on to his shinigami friend.

"What're you trying to say?"

Rukia shook her head, smiling with a look of longing in her eyes. "Never mind...I can't trust myself to speak right now."

"Huh?"

Ichigo crouched down to her level, moving his hand almost roughly toward her. He tilted her chin up firmly.

"I need you to explain a few things to me. Starting with telling me what the hell you're talking about."

Rukia pressed her palms against his wrist to get him to falter and let go but Ichigo would have none of that.

"Stop it."

"Not a chance. Not until you tell me what's been going on with you," he whispered into her ear.

At feeling his breath against her ear come like feathery wisps, Rukia jerked her head away and her struggles became much more violent. She placed both hands flat on his chest in an attempt to get as much distance as possible.

Ichigo simply pushed away her sad attempts, inevitably moving closer to her than either expected. As Ichigo was about to yell something at her, Rukia had turned at the last second to scream something of her own and...locked lips with him.

Still a state of shock, they were both unsure of when would be the best time to pull away. Ichigo's hand slid from her chin to rest at his side as he found himself staring back at the face now meshed with his own.

Rukia felt her cheeks turn ablaze at such a close proximity, finding the feel of his lips on her all too sinful. Slowly, her composure and reasoning came back at her all at once. She moved her head away so that she was now cheek to cheek with Ichigo, breathing raggedly as she felt heart pumping loudly inside her gigai form.

She was facing away from him so that he didn't see the joy in her violet orbs. He let out a heavy sigh before moving away from her without a last look and began walking back towards the condo.

"Sorry," he muttered. "My fault."

At this, Rukia felt a wave of despair overcome her as she watched with each step he took, the distance that grew between them. Rukia turned away, the tips of her fingers touching her swollen lips. He had very firm lips.

What in the world was wrong with her? How had this happened? Why...?

* * *

Rukia sighed, rolling over onto her side to stare through the glass back door. Outside, the waves were roaring as they crashed upon the sand. The silvery white light of the moon made the dark surface shimmer. 

Behind her, she could hear the clock ticking on the wall, second after sleepless second rolled by. Groaning, she rolled onto her back once more and leaned her head back over the couch to look at the clock. 1:35 AM.

With her extremely powerful hearing, she could make out Karin and Yuzu snoring in their room, and Isshin in his. Rukia had chosen to sleep in the living room, so the crashing waves could lull her to sleep. Yeah… so much for that idea.

Blowing a loose strand of hair out of her face, she rolled off of the futon, gracefully standing up and stretching. Her mind was racing; the previous scene between her and Ichigo seemed to be playing through her mind for the umpteenth time…

After their little… 'accident', Ichigo had retired back to the condo and into his room. Rukia had stayed out for a few hours, not ready to meet with him yet again. Somehow, she figured (even more so than earlier) that this was going to be a _very _long week.

Rubbing her heavy eyelids, she slid the glass door open and stepped into the cool night air.

The water was cold as it crashed upon her feet. She shivered, but continued walking, in desperate need of alone time. All the time while she was walking, she kept her head bowed, while watching the footprints she left disappear when they were covered by tides. A few times, she sidestepped a few tiny crabs, but she never looked up.

This might have been the reason that she didn't notice him. He was sitting in the sand, his gaze set intently over the sparkling surface of the water. Though it was dark, she could easily recognize his orange hair, and, at the moment she did, she froze. Heart beating rapidly in her chest, she stood rooted to the spot, until she realized _exactly _what had happened. At this point, she turned, hoping he hadn't noticed her.

She was wrong.

"Where are you going?"

She stopped, shoulders shooting up to her ears. Turning around to face him, she opened one squinted eye. "I…" She couldn't think of anything to say.

Unrepentantly, he patted the sand next to her. "Sit down."

Rukia shifted from foot to foot, anxious to run and be away from him. Before she could speak, her feet were moving of their own accord towards him. Shocked, Rukia looked up as Ichigo's face became nearer and nearer...Was he-

Finally when they were a breath away from each other, Ichigo shot his arm out and grabbed her forearm. He tugged her to his side before looking back over the waves crashing against the large boulder overhead.

After a moment, Rukia summoned enough courage to confront him. She wasn't sure whether she should be angry or content.

"Who taught you how to-

"After a year of watching you, a guy picks up a few things."

"How dare you?!" she screeched. "Why would you use a manipulation spell on me?!"

"How else am I supposed to get you to do anything right now?"

"You bastard!"

Rukia rose her hand to slap him a good one across the face but he caught it in his and lowered her hand, penetrating his harsh gaze through her own. She shrunk back, remembering this position all too well. She also noticed that his hand was still on her wrist.

"Let go," she murmured.

"It's not like I've ever had a choice."

Rukia's eyes widened at his words. "W-what're you saying?"

Instead of answering, Ichigo tugged on her arm and she fell fully against him. Rukia felt her breath leave her at that moment.

"I-Ichigo...? What're you...doing?"

"Rukia, I also need you to stay."

"You can't mean that," Rukia tried to reason. "What about Orihime?"

"...She's not the one."

Rukia pushed away far enough from him to stare at his face which now held utter sincerity. She wanted to believe in him, but all she could think of was how tainted his life would become because of her.

"Why would you want me?"

"...You changed my fate."

"No." She shook her head in anguish. "You can't love me. Look how screwed up your life became because of me. Why-"

Ichigo cut her off mid-ramble by placing his hand over her mouth and gave her a stern look that quickly made her shut up.

"All I needed was an answer. I don't care about the rest of that stuff."

Rukia looked down at the white sand around her, before looking back into those eyes she had come to care for so much.

"I do...I love you. So much that I think my heart would tear in two if I let you be with another girl."

Ichigo smiled, his hand coming to caress her pale cheek. The moonlight made her glossy hair shimmer much brighter than even the sun could and accentuated her fair skin perfectly. Rukia was the night itself.

"I want to do it right this time."

"What do y-"

His mouth plastered itself over hers, numbing her words and completely erasing them from her lips. Ichigo's hand came up to the small of her back while his other cradled her head and held her in place. Rukia had never felt as vulnerable to his touch before as she felt her eyes slowly glide downwards. Her arms went around his form and pulled him closer, not realizing how long she had craved for him.

She was a bit surprised when he deepened their kiss but obliged none-the-less only because she loved him so much. After much needed breath, they fell backwards onto the sand. The stars shone especially for them as they lit up the sky, making the beach seem much more beautiful at night. They could make out the fireworks bursting in the distance, lighting up the dark ocean water ten-fold.

They were two feet apart as they lay there, staring into each other's eyes. Rukia smiled at him, bringing a hand to cup his face in a chaste kiss.

"I love you, Ichigo. I love you so much that I can't stand it."

Ichigo rose up on his elbows and pulled her into another one of his mind-blowing kisses before kissing her cheeks, her eyelids and forehead. He leaned his against her, the usual scowl on his face gone for the moment all because of her.

"I know. For a while, I had thought that Renji and you had something going on. Thanks for confirming it," he winked.

Rukia was surprised for a second, gaping openly at him. "Me...? With Renji?? No, of course not. We're just friends."

"That's not really the way I see him looking at you," Ichigo said, a hint of jealousy in his tone.

Rukia chuckled lightly, smoothing his hair back from his face.

"No, it's not like that. And even if it were, you're still the one for me."

Ichigo had to smile at this. He sat upright, bringing Rukia along with him in his arms. He had her tight against him, maybe a deep part of his subconscious thinking that if he let her go again, she might be gone for good this time. Her arms came around him and buried her face in the crook of his shoulder.

"Can you say it again for me?" Rukia shyly asked, a side Ichigo had never seen before.

"Say what? Oh..." He understood. "I'll say it as many times as you ask. Rukia, I love you."

A smile graced her lips and she was sure that Ichigo could feel it against his skin.

"Somehow I don't think that I'll ever get tired of hearing that."

A/N: (squeals) I'm a fangirl so sue me! BleedingSaro and I are really satisfied with the way it turned out. I found it sweet but what I really wanna know is what you guys think. We're also anticipating all the fics we'll do in the future together so stay tuned for the next fic under God'sAngel or BleedingSaro. Plz R/R!!!


End file.
